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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

68th email

----- Original Message -----
From: Dom Borax
To: Stacey Marchenkova
Sent: Sunday June 6th, 1999 20:28PM
Subject: RE New string of conversation

Stacey – how are you? My name is Dom. Not sure if you remember me. We’ve met a couple of times now. Anyway that’s the past and we all know what happens when you dabble in the past –

First you take your time machine.

Then you go back to the 1950s where you meet William Wyler on the set of the film Roman Holiday.

Then you convince him to stop doing so many takes and change the ending so Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn actually get together this time.

Then you travel back to your own time you discover that Hepburn and Pack are still together but their romance has died.

Damn you world.

But that’s not the worst of it.

Because of you meddled of the space and time continuum - there is now a sequel to Roman Holiday called Washington Workday.

Here, Hepburn abdicated – and married Peck. She moved to America – to Washington and lived in the suburbs. She becomes a good cook but gets lonely because he’s always working and going on interesting international assignments.

One day she starts taking pills and soon she’s addicted to some kinda of anti depressant – and before too long – while he’s away on a trip (ironically in Rome) she ends up dying from some simple but cruel head-hitting fall on the back stoop.

Bad time machine.

So you try again; perhaps as a form of punishment.

This time you use the time machine to look to the future. You set the dials fifty years ahead and arrive at the point of your own death.

You deeply want it to be grand and meaningful – heroic even. But it isn’t. You’re in a hospital bed. It’s not even raining. Two people are by your side. One of them is a nurse. And you just stop.

Bad, bad time machine.

With this knowledge in mind - you go back to where you began – trying to either spend the rest of your life not getting that disease or waiting for the moment of nothingness – always one step ahead.

So it’s a no-win situation.

So you destroy the time machine and berate yourself for using this astonishing piece of technology for rather mundane and pointless reasons.

And from this point on you realise that it’s also pointless looking back and probably pointless looking forward, hey?

So I agree. Let’s fuck the past. Let’s fuck the present and just focus on the now.

Though fearing of contradicting myself; how do you think you’ll die btw?


Dom.

19 comments:

  1. I dont know why but this is so perfect for me now... I have been living off the futility of thinking of the future and the what ifs... BAD time machine indeed

    I know what he's trying to say and i must say, hats off to D for putting it quite so eloquently

    I am still trying to convince my heart of being able to do that but somehow the mindnumbingly devastating truth of the matter is, my heart's just too stupid or old to learn these new tricks

    maybe Dom will reach out to my heart in this post too... or maybe it will hav to get used to being tricked by me ever more

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  2. I'm the opposite: I dwell too much on the past and what I didn't do instead of setting my sights forward. I wonder if we've all got a little of Dom in us. Can't wait to see Stacey's response!

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  3. A great email. This is the wit and wisdom she should have kept in mind before she slept with Marcus (you might say this is the wit and wisdom he should have employed before she slept with marcus). I dwell way too much in the past and the future, but I’m working on it.

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  4. "Though fearing of contradicting myself; how do you think you’ll die btw?"

    Didn't realise 'BTW' was used back in 1999?

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  5. "Fuck the present and just focus on the now"? I think this should read "Fuck the future and just focus on the now" but maybe that's just me.

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  6. Jonny, a quote from Wikipedia on Internet slang reads:

    "By 1990, the Jargon File had been enriched with examples of shorthand used in talk mode between two terminals, (for example, "BTW", "FYI", and "THX")"

    Nice catch, though. I didn't even think about it.

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  7. when do u think imho originated... and wudnt u like to knowwho started it off... maybe im jut sayin that cos ppl who use it r always SO insufferable... sorry but i digress ;)

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  8. Ipshi, it sounds like you're going through a rough time. I hope it pans out okay. I think you're wonderful.

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  9. Liz, I too dwell too much on the past. I wish I didn't have regrets. But I do. It's so annoying.

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  10. Chris, I agree - this is a good one from Dom. It's loaded with subtext - advice to her and to himself. I think she's heard it. I hope so.

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  11. Jonny, I know what you mean - I didn't realise it was being used back then. I'm sure I wasn't.

    But the emails are from 1999 - so I guess it was in use.

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  12. Anon (4:26) I picked this mistake too. But I didn't want to change it. I guess an error from Dom. I think your reading is accurate to his intent.


    Man, I wish we could ask him.

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  13. Randall, nice research. Good on you.

    And your site is great. For those who've not checked it out - look at the Brighter Earth link at the bottom of the page.

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  14. PS, R - if you think it's apt to link back to this page, I'd really appreciate it.

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  15. Ipshi - the death of language, right?

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  16. Okay, I may or may not have just been sucked back in. Team D+S, here we go again...

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